Couldn't agree more here. Conroes will boot well past their absolute stability point and remain stable enough to do most things... including game. However, RAM can go from rock solid to erroring in seconds... within a few mhz.

Most, if not all, DDR2-667 RAM will be able to hit 400mhz FSB 1:1 (DDR2-800 speeds) @ 2.2v with 5-5-5-15-2T timings.

You DO have a p5n-e SLI motherboard, which DOES allow unlinked mode. Make sure to use it ;)

Didn't know that about the ram being so picky. Should have bought the OCZ. Hummm... maybe the other half will let me get that for Christmas.

Setting the unlinked mode was one of the first things that happened.

Actually started the OC with 3Ghz base and memory at 1:1, unlinked of course. As the cpu OC went higher, tried to keep the memory at 1:1 and that's when all the instability happened. This is the first time that Orthos has gone past 5 hrs.

So now that the core is not as critical as the ram. There's tweeking to be done. Should this be done with Memtest to see how far the memory will be pushed, then work that into the OC?, or is there another method that works better.